Happy Birthday
by TCGeek
Summary: Victor told everyone he wanted no part of celebrating his 30th birthday, but Tyler wasn't going to take no for an answer.


**This story is random - a contest prize for edlovesjuicyfruit for being a winner of my annual birthday contest.**

**She requested something with Victor in it, so here it is - an entire story where Victor yells at Tyler for doing various stupid things.**

**Rated T for swearing - it IS a story about Victor, after all...  
**

**Enjoy! :)  
**

* * *

Victor Niguel had accomplished a lot in four years time.

In four years, he had been the driving force behind the medications and treatment plans used to combat not only one, but two GUILT outbreaks across the world. Paired with the extraordinary surgical skills of Dr. Derek Stiles, Victor's flawless lab work was one of the main reasons that the super-pathogen was taken down a second time… he was a literal genius, in every sense of the word. He spent day in and day out of those four years holed up in his lab, at times even depriving himself of basic human needs to do what needed to get done, because he knew that in such harrowing times, there wasn't time to waste. In four years he had discovered so many cutting edge treatments that he was nationally recognized as the most successful doctor in the field of research and development – accomplishing more than teams of doctors and researchers had in decades.

But even with all of those accomplishments, Victor was powerless against time. Time was ticking away, and even with the near super-human knowledge that he possessed, there was one thing that he couldn't do in those four years.

Stop himself from turning thirty.

It wasn't necessarily the process of turning thirty that bothered Victor. He was never the vain, anti-aging type that slipped into depression at the thought of turning another year older – on the contrary, he actually embraced it. Being older meant he could broaden his knowledge, and the smarter he was, the more he could do – cure more, teach more, solve more, work more, brag more…

No – getting older wasn't what bothered Victor. Thirty was a monumental birthday, sure, but just like every other birthday, he honestly didn't even care – it was just another day.

What bothered him, though, was that nobody else he worked with saw it the same way.

And every year, they were all determined to make his birthday a day of celebration hell.

--

"Seriously, don't make me beg. Because I will. I will do it, and I will do it shamelessly."

Sidney Kasal still had surprise heavily set on his usually stoic face, and for good reason. Standing directly in front of him was Victor Niguel, Caduceus's famous lab hermit, asking him for a day off – a day as far away from the lab as humanly possible. Looking up at the researcher from his desk, Sidney noticed that Victor's usually brash expression had turned into more of a pleading look, begging the director to have some sort of mercy on his poor soul. Victor had _never_ come to the point of begging for a day off – this was a person who had to be forcibly removed from the lab to make to his own grandmother's funeral on time… it could be said that he was a bit involved in his job.

With all the given circumstances, Sidney was surprised that Victor was standing in front of him with this request in hand.

And as he thought it over, he was even more surprised that his birthday was the one day he couldn't afford to give him off. That after years of showing up to work every day (and even on days he wasn't supposed to), that he had to deny the one request from the person that had taken off less time than even himself.

Sidney sighed, looking up at Victor with sympathy.

"Dr. Niguel, if it was _any_ other day, you would have it off in a heartbeat. But unfortunately, you know your birthday is deadline day for the prototype vaccines and I can't afford to have you off."

"You can't be serious--!"

"I'm sorry, Victor. Request denied." Sidney replied, enunciating the end of the sentence to make his point very final.

Victor dropped his arms from their usual crossed state to let them hang loosely at his sides in defeat, his expression suddenly turning back to sour.

"Well, don't be surprised if I suddenly come down with something--…"

"…do it and you'll be out of the lab for a week."

"DAMMIT. Everyone here wants to ruin my fucking life, I swear!"

Sidney just smiled as he heard Victor's ranting and raving fade off into the distance as he stomped back to his office with steam literally coming out of his ears.

The truth was, Sidney could afford to have him off that day, but he didn't want to risk it.

And besides – he had already been approached with a more hilarious alternative.

--

And so, on the morning of Victor's birthday, the researcher snuck into Caduceus two hours early, clad in heavy sunglasses and a long, high-collared trench. Trying to disguise himself as best as possible, he snuck into the building carefully eyeing his surroundings to make sure he was going undetected.

Moving swiftly, Victor kept as incognito as possible, knowing that once he got into the lab, he was home free – the other employees bartered with each other daily to avoid going in there…something that he loved.

Unfortunately, he was in for a rude awakening.

--

"You are going to die."

Derek Stiles laughed as he walked into the R&D lab, noticing that Victor's workstation had been fully decorated with streamers and balloons by none other than the researcher's sworn enemy, Tyler Chase.

"Nah…" was the blonde's reply, standing next to his creation as he searched through his bag of party supplies. Realizing that he needed more decorations but all he had left were pink streamers, a broad grin swept his face as he jumped up on a chair and started hanging them from the ceiling.

The door open again and Angie walked in, moving to stand next to Derek as she surveyed the area herself, suddenly breaking out into giggles.

"Victor is going to MURDER you!"

Tyler glared down at Angie. "He will nooooooot!"

"Oh yes he will. He is going to find you, rip off your arms, and beat you with them."

Derek laughed at Angie's comment. "She's right, you know."

"Will you all shut up and hand me the damn tape?!"

The door clicked open again as Leslie walked in, followed closely by her friend Annie, a fellow R&D team member.

"Uh oh…" Leslie said quietly, careful not to distract her boyfriend as he taped a pretty pink streamer to the ceiling and twirled it downward to the bench underneath.

Derek and Angie turned around and smiled at her, all of them sharing a collective nod at the dangerous situation Tyler was putting himself into.

Suddenly the blonde jumped down onto the floor and looked over his work with a trademark goofy grin. He turned to Leslie and walked to just in front of her as Annie giggled and left the two alone to go start work.

"Well, what do you think!?" he exclaimed, obviously proud of himself.

Leslie smiled and leaned forward, kissing Tyler gently. They pulled apart and he smiled.

"What was that for?"

Leslie grinned again, patting his cheek gently.

"…our last kiss before you die?"

"THANK YOU!" Derek exclaimed as he and Angie began to laugh, especially when Tyler crossed his arms with a pout and a loud groan.

"He's going to LOVE it!" he exclaimed, turning around to see the monstrosity of streamers and balloons when suddenly it hit him like a Mack truck.

Victor was going to hate it. Absolutely, one hundred percent hate it.

Suddenly, with a dead serious look, Tyler whirled around to Annie, who was eyeing him with a grin.

"I was NEVER here. Got it?"

She nodded with a laugh and in a flash, Tyler was bolting out the door, Leslie, Derek, and Angie not far behind him.

--

Rounding a corner and noticing that the halls were still near-desolate, Victor breathed a sigh of relief as he spotted the lab doors at the end of the hallway. He skidded to a halt when he saw someone moving around in the lab, quickly growing relaxed again as he saw it was just Annie. Strangely enough he actually liked her, for the fact that she mainly kept to herself, was always on top of deadlines, and possessed the one trait that many of the other people he worked with let lapse at times: common sense.

Walking to the lab door and getting ready to swipe his badge for entry, Victor turned to the side to see Derek and Angie conversing just down the hallway, both of them looking over at him with a smile and a wave. Confused, he just gave a tiny wave back and swiped his ID, hearing two beeps as the heavy lab doors clicked open.

As Victor stepped inside and placed his fingertips on the provided scanner for the last step of security clearance, he stopped, suddenly wondering why Derek and his nurse had been so far away from their office, and why they looked so happy to see him.

Just a few seconds after the thought passed through his head, Victor turned his eyes over to his lab station in the far corner of the room. As the head of R&D, his workspace was the biggest in the lab and was partitioned off by a set of glass panes that although completely see-through, were great at blocking off outside distractions and giving Victor that secluded feeling that he always loved. But as he passed the last checkpoint and was finally granted full access into the lab, all Victor could do was drop his bag on the floor in shock, eyes nearly bugging out of his head as Annie stared at him sympathetically.

Because of the fact that he could see directly into his workspace, Victor quickly noticed that it was no longer in the clean, pristine state that he always left it. Instead, it looked like a rainbow had exploded – blue, green, yellow, and _pink_ streamers adorned the entire area and even hung from the ceiling, surrounded by a multitude of matching balloons and 'Happy Birthday!" signs that lined the entire periphery. He took a horrified step forward, seemingly unable to move as he felt his blood pressure rising by the second, knowing that his face was most likely a nice shade of dark pink at the moment just by how the temperature in the normally freezing lab had seemed to shoot up in the past minute or so.

Victor trembled violently, biting his lower lip forcefully and clenching his fists at his sides as he finally made it to his workstation, noticing that whoever had done this was even stupid enough to individually wrap curled ribbons around the necks of each of his test tubes. Confetti had been spread all over his workstation as well, the sheer sparkling nature of it just sending him over the edge – bright, stupid, shining decorations of this nature did NOT belong in a lab, and every time the glitter caught his eye, he got pissed right off all over again.

It was horrendous – and the closest thing that Victor could liken it to was a murder scene. An extremely colorful, glittery, murder scene.

--

Normally pushing for them to be doing something more productive while at work, Angie had allowed Derek to drag her down to the outside of Caduceus's lab, knowing that what Tyler had pulled this year was going to end up causing a giant show – one that neither of them wanted to miss.

Having just finished their coffee, Derek collected Angie's coffee cup from her and threw both his and hers in the trash, returning to her side with his arms crossed in front of him.

"I don't know, Angie… its way too quiet in there."

The blonde thought for a moment, green eyes fixed on the closed lab doors.

"Well, you know the lab is also soundproof, so maybe he's yelling and we just can't hear it."

Derek smiled. "Or he reached a new unseen level of anger and just stroked right out."

Angie laughed and Derek followed suit, suddenly both of them turning quiet as they exchanged a slightly worried glance.

"Give it one more minute and then we're going in." Derek said, Angie nodding with another giggle.

--

Victor whipped around quickly to glare at the only other person in the lab, seeing her jump in surprise as he did so. "Did you do this?" he sneered in a whisper, watching as Annie took a step backwards from him, fear evident in her eyes.

"N-No, Dr. Niguel… I swear, it was here when I got here."

Victor didn't like that one bit. "Who was it?"

Staying true to her promise even though she was literally scared to death, Annie just shook her head. "I have no idea, Dr. Niguel… check the entry log, maybe that will tell you."

In a flash, Victor was at his computer, stomping on balloons and loudly popping them as he tore down the decorations like Godzilla. He furiously typed his user name and password into the Caduceus network and pulled up the log, literally reaching the point of the most angry he had ever been in his life as he saw a familiar name that was the first on the list for that morning.

"Chase, Tyler J."

And in that moment, Victor let the part of his brain responsible for settling him down turn off, knowing that there was no way to hold it in any longer.

--

"Alright, it's been about two minutes… let's go make sure he's okay." Derek said with a sigh, unwilling to admit that he was actually terrified to enter the lab knowing what a blind rage Victor must've been in at the moment.

But before he and Angie could even take a step forward, both of them stopped dead and winced as the loudest yell they had ever heard in the entire time they had been at Caduceus resounded through the hallway.

"_MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A BITCH, HOW DID I NOT FUCKING SEE THIS ONE COMING?!"_

"Um… uh-oh…" Angie whispered, her and Derek both recoiling as Victor managed to begin yelling so loud that not even the state-of-the-art, brand new soundproof walls that they had enclosed the lab in could muffle his fury.

"_I AM GOING TO FIND HIM. AND WHEN I DO, HE IS GOING TO BE SORRY BECAUSE HE IS GOING TO BE DEAD. DEAD! DID I MENTION I'M GOING TO KILL HIM, BECAUSE I AM. JUST WHEN I THINK HE REACHES A NEW LEVEL OF COMPLETE FUCKING STUPIDITY, HE GOES AND OUTDOES HIMSELF. WELL NOT ANYMORE, BECAUSE YOU CAN'T BE A MORON IF YOU'RE SIX FEET FUCKING UNDER!! AND AS FOR THE REST OF THEM, I'LL GET THEM LATER TOO! FUUUUCK!"_

"Uh, shit. RUN." Derek commanded, reaching out and yanking Angie's arm to pull her in the opposite direction as they began booking it, and not a moment too soon as a loud "BANG" resounded through the doorway as Victor threw open the lab doors and began charging towards Tyler's office.

Once away from the scene, Derek and Angie slowed to a stop before Derek began to walk away again.

"Where are you going?" she asked him. "This isn't a drill – we should be getting under our desks or something."

Derek laughed. "Nah, not yet. Unless I want to see Tyler die, I need to give him just a little head start…"

--

Moments later, Derek paced into the break room to see an already fidgety Tyler at the coffee pot, loading himself up with more caffeine. With a smirk on his face he placed his hands gently in his pockets, snuck up behind him…

"Heyyy, Tyler!"

Shooting nearly a foot into the air, Tyler nearly dropped the coffee pot in his hands as he let out a startled yell. He pulled himself together just in time to catch the pot before it fell, turning around to meet Derek with a reprimanding glare.

"Dude. What the hell!? I thought you were Victor!"

Derek just kept laughing, hunched over just slightly. "I know you did. That's why it was funny."

Tyler's eyes narrowed. "You know I'm about an inch away from death at any minute and I have to be on top of my game… you're lucky you didn't just get ninja'd."

Derek rolled his eyes. "Uh-huh… okay Tyler."

Another glare. "Are you done ruining my life yet?"

"Not quite. I'm actually here to help."

Tyler turned his back. "Help with what? Scaring me into a heart attack? I swear, dude… sometim—"

Suddenly Tyler whirled around, the fear of God in his eyes.

"Oh, mother of God... he knows."

Derek just nodded. "Uh… yep. You might wanna…" he said gently, pointing towards the door.

"Shiiiiit!" Tyler hissed, pacing quickly towards the door with his cup just as the door flew open with a loud bang, a viciously angry Victor standing in the frame. His dark eyes were slanted more than usual, heavy black brows pushing down on them. Fists and jaw both tightly clenched, he stared down his soon-to-be victim, his face still flushed from all the screaming he had done minutes prior.

Tyler, frozen in place, just stared back at him awaiting his next move. His face grew visibly horrified when Victor took a slow step towards him, opening his mouth to speak.

"Okay dude, whoa…" he said quietly.

"Dude whoa nothing." Victor said quietly, taking another step forward. "Tyler Chase, you have made a LOT of bad decisions in your life…"

"Settle down, dude… it was just a –"

"Oh no, it wasn't 'just' anything. My desk looks like a fucking parade. There is glitter EVERYWHERE, and one of my test mice is wearing a FUCKING PARTY HAT. I am going to literally KILL YOU DEAD."

"Ha. Told ya." Derek said quietly with a smile before it dropped off his face as Tyler and Victor both turned towards him.

"SHUT UP!" they yelled in unison, prompting the uninvolved surgeon to remove himself from the lounge completely.

"Okay, your lordship…" Tyler said, now trying anything he possibly could and seeing it was working as there was a brief smirk on Victor's face. "Just… hear me out."

Victor paused, his left eyebrow raising just slightly. "You have thirty seconds."

"Uh, okay! Um… Victor. Dude. It's your birthday, man." Tyler scurried, trying to make something up on the fly as he tried to talk his way out of death.

"Twenty-five seconds. Yeah, and?"

"And?" Tyler asked, now feeling more confident. "Seriously – I know you hate all the fuss and you know, human contact, but you should just enjoy it. You're only going to do this once, why waste it?"

"I don't understand why you won't just leave me alone!"

"Because Victor! Because even though you're constantly threatening me with bodily harm and all that, I still think of you as a friend. And did you ever consider that maybe a friend wanted to do something nice for you on your birthday?"

"No!" he shot back. "I never considered that, because you ALWAYS have an angle, Chase – always! There is no keeping it simple with you! My fucking lab bench looks like clowns THREW UP."

"Alright, fine." Tyler replied. "I guess I was doing it my way instead of doing what you wanted… but, I'm still not just going to do nothing."

"Well, I don't want…"

"How about…" Tyler started, cutting him off. "…a drink."

"You have got to be retarded. What are you—"

"One drink tonight – just you and me, I'm buying."

Victor stopped. "What? No…"

"Oh, come on." Tyler nudged, smiling now. "We'll find the darkest, dingiest bar around… you know, one that will remind you of home!"

"Chase…"

"Sorry…" he replied. "But really – it's your birthday and you have to celebrate a little because it's important and I say so."

Victor smirked slightly, careful to squelch it before Tyler noticed, but stayed silent.

"Seriously if you don't go I am going to throw you the biggest party…"

"…and if you do that you will be without LEGS." Victor finished.

Tyler raised an eyebrow with a hopeful smirk as he stared him down, smiling when Victor finally dropped his shoulders.

"Fine. I'll meet you here after work, and you are not telling another soul, got it?"

"Sweet!" Tyler exclaimed. "Sure dude, whatever you want."

With a wave, Tyler sent Victor on his way.

And as he left, all Victor could think was "_I hope I don't regret this..."_

--

Six o'clock came faster than Victor thought it would, especially because he had been dreading it since the moment he had agreed to the outing. With a sigh, he walked out of the locker room clad in dark jeans and a black t-shirt, walking towards the lab to meet Tyler who was already waiting for him in the hallway. Dressed in slightly distressed jeans and a polo, Tyler's face lit up and he began to wave wildly at the researcher, forcing him to sigh.

"Okay, if I'm going to be seen in public with you, you are not going to act like… well, you, alright?" Victor asked.

"This coming from Caduceus's resident thundercloud?" Tyler laughed, seeing Victor grumble slightly. "Oh come on dude, I'm kidding – lighten up just a little bit?"

"Fine. Is this better?" he asked, no change in his expression whatsoever.

Tyler just laughed. "Perfect. Let's go."

--

Packed into Tyler's Tahoe, both men buckled their seatbelts and went on their way, beginning to talk about possible places for them to spend the evening.

"How about TGI Fridays?" Tyler suggested, aborting the idea immediately after a groan and massive eye-roll came from the person to his right.

Driving down the streets of downtown Angeles Bay, Tyler looked left and right, finally remembering a small pub he and Derek had been to a year prior, something perfect for the occasion.

"What about Gus O'Connor's?" he asked, watching as Victor's face lightened up just a little.

"Where's that?"

"It's a dive, I'm not gonna lie to you… just outside the city though. Very small, hidden – great potato skins too… it's a well-kept secret."

He paused. "Alright, I guess that sounds good."

Silence crept between the two again as they drove, Tyler suddenly speaking up again.

"So, is there a reason you hate birthdays? Or are you just afraid to turn the big 3-0?"

"Nah…" Victor replied. "Unlike everyone else on the planet, I actually embrace getting older… I don't want to be young again because being young reminds me of when I wasn't as smart as I am now and I don't like to think about it."

Tyler chuckled, flipping on his turn signal and changing lanes to his left. "Makes sense."

Victor chuckled too. "Yeah…"

There was a brief silence again.

"It's been a long day – mind if I turn on a little music?" Tyler asked.

"Go for it."

Flipping to some sort of alternative rock station, Victor leaned back in his seat and just relaxed, knowing that it would do him some good after nearly blowing out his carotid artery earlier that morning while screaming. As the SUV traveled along the streets of the city he lived in, Victor's eyes traced downward from the scenery and to the side mirror, where something caught his attention.

He couldn't quite put his finger on it right then, but something looked familiar about what he was seeing. Almost like he recognized the person traveling in the car behind him, but they were so far back he couldn't make out who it was.

Apathy getting the best of him he stared back out the windshield as the car came to a stop at a red light. As they waited, watching the traffic perpendicular to them move, Victor leaned his head to his right again and caught another glimpse of the rearview mirror. And unlike the last time, Victor finally realized why the car behind him was familiar.

"Hey, is that Derek behind us?"

Freezing in place, Tyler's eyes shot open momentarily as he looked in the rearview mirror, trying to keep his cool.

"Oh yeah… I guess it is."

"Looks like he's got Angie with him, too… that's weird, what are th—"

Slowly, Victor's eyes narrowed and his head turned slowly towards Tyler, arms instinctively crossing in front of him.

"You had better start talking…"

"About what? I don't…"

"CHASE…?!"

Tyler groaned. "I'm sorrryyyyyy! They just…"

"What the hell is the matter with you?!" Victor yelled, reaching over and smacking him in the arm. "Are your ears clogged or something, or can you just not understand ENGLISH?!"

"They cornered me!" Tyler yelped. "They wanted to just come and have a drink with us... to cel—"

"Who is 'they'? Just Derek and Angie?" Victor snapped, cutting him off.

"Yeah." Tyler said calmly, feeling Victor's anger subside.

"…and Leslie and Sidney…"

"Goddammit, Chase!"

"Victor, quit yelling!" Tyler finally shouted, startling the researcher. "It's just a drink at the bar - no hoopla, no party, no anything… they just wanted to be there."

Victor sighed – he had worked hard to try to get people to not like him all those years so he wouldn't have to deal with these types of things, but apparently people didn't mind being belittled and yelled at as much as he thought.

"Fine, whatever. As long as there's no big deal out of it, I guess its fine."

Tyler smiled. "That's the birthday spirit!"

Victor glared at him.

"Sorry…"

Pulling up to another stoplight, Victor spotted their destination – Gus O'Connor's, a small pub on the right hand side of the street and tucked away between two larger buildings. It looked exactly like the kind of place he would pick out, himself – maybe it wasn't going to be such a bad trip after all.

As the light turned green, however, Tyler sped up, quickly passing the pub and leaving Victor confused.

"Dude, where are you going? You just passed it…"

Silence.

"Chase – are your ears open? You just passed the fucking bar!"

More silence.

Victor turned to him dumbfounded, growing angry for what seemed like the millionth time that day, even moreso when he noticed Tyler's nervous expression.

"I will punch you so hard if you don't tell me what's going on…"

Tyler bit his lip nervously and shrunk down in his seat just a bit.

"Proooobably should have mentioned that once everyone agreed to come, they vetoed the idea of O'Connor's…"

"What?" Victor retaliated, blood pressure rising again. "Then where the fuck are we going?!"

Tyler reached over, locking the door just in case Victor should try to make a run for it. "You'll see – we're almost there."

Absolutely speechless, Victor just stared at Tyler as if to silently ask him if he was trying to get himself killed, when the blonde put his turn signal on and made a right hand turn…

…into a Benihana.

And as soon as Victor read the sign, he promptly reached over and punched Tyler as hard as he could.

--

The next morning, Dr. Robert Hoffman strolled the hallways of Caduceus on his way to grab his morning coffee. He whistled in an off-tune sort of fashion as he walked, happy song suddenly ceasing as he walked into the break room and glanced at his staff.

Derek's face was mashed into the table, his eyes closed and pained look on his face. Tyler, with both of his sleeves rolled up, had a massive red and purple bruise on his left arm and a smaller one on his right that he was intermittently icing with a bag of frozen corn from the freezer in the break room. Angie was standing over Victor, removing an eye patch on his right eye in order to place two different antibiotic eye drops in it as he groaned in pain, muttering several expletives under his breath. All the while, Leslie was just staring at them all shaking her head as she sighed heavily.

"Oh my…" Robert said softly, grabbing the attention of those he had been surveying. "What… what happened to you all, are you alright?"

"NO." Victor snapped, met with a soft slap upside his head by Angie just before she re-affixed his patch.

"You're fine." she replied, turning to look at Dr. Hoffman with a faint smirk. "We just had an… interesting night yesterday, that's all."

Dr. Hoffman raised an eyebrow. "Oh? And may I ask what happened?"

Everyone collectively flinched upon the mention, knowing that even though they had all ultimately had fun, the night had been near disastrous.

"Um… maybe it's a story for another day, Dr. Hoffman." Leslie finally said.

He paused. "Very well then. I guess… I hope everyone feels better soon."

"Thanks, Dr. Hoffman…" they all grumbled monotonously, just as the doctor turned to leave the room.

"Dr. Hoffman, wait!" Victor called out, spinning the elder doctor around in his tracks.

"Yes, Dr. Niguel?"

"Unless this looks fun…" he began, shooting a glare over at Tyler and then back over to Robert. "Never… EVER… let Tyler take you out for your birthday."

Dr. Hoffman just chuckled as Tyler whipped his head towards Victor in annoyance.

"I told you last night, dude!" he exclaimed. "If you don't quit your bitching, I'm going to sign you up for their birthday club and we will do this EVERY YEAR."

Everyone collectively groaned again as Dr. Hoffman left the room, just as Tyler and Victor got into it again.

"You admitted it last night, and I got it on tape so you can't deny it!" Tyler exclaimed, referring to the incognito video he had taken of Victor the prior night.

Victor grumbled. "Fine, I did have a LITTLE fun… are you happy?"

Tyler grinned. "Yes. Yes I am."

"Good. Now if you'll excuse me…" Victor nodded as he rose from his seat. "…I have to try to regroup all the brain cells I lost last night by hanging out with you morons."

"Love you too, Victor!" Tyler shouted after him, hearing his loudly scoff as the door closed.

"He told you he didn't want a birthday, and you did it anyway." Derek mumbled, face still mashed into the table. "And look at all of us – you got punched at least six times last night and I'm going to be sick for a week… not to mention the stupid pirate patch Victor has to wear around until his eye heals."

"What about this does not say 'successful birthday' to you?" Tyler smiled. "It was perfect!"

"Alright, Tyler… whatever. Good job – it was unforgettable, that's for sure." Derek said, rising to his feet and using Angie as a crutch to do so.

Tyler smiled brightly as the two of them walked out of the break room and towards their office, before Derek stopped her.

"Wait, Angie… I need to make a stop before we go back to the office."

--

"Come in."

Sidney looked up from his desk with a small smirk to see Angie nearly dragging Derek into his office, knowing full-well how the doctor felt at that moment.

Angie noticed the giant bottle of Ibuprofen on the director's desk, giving him a smile. "Still got a headache from that big drum, huh?"

"Shh…" Sidney said as he winced – the waitstaff had been banging on that stupid drum all night to celebrate birthdays, and it had cause a headache so severe even the smallest noises disturbed him.

"Make it quick, Stiles."

"Uh…" Derek began. "I just… I know that it's almost 5 months in advance, but I will do anything in the world if you give me my birthday off."

"Done." Sidney said. "And you can have yours off too, Angie… for your own good."

"Well, thank you." Angie replied, dragging Derek form the room with a smile.

After he had made the mistake of denying Victor's request for his birthday off, Sidney vowed that he would never do it again to any other staff member as long as Tyler Chase was still employed at Caduceus.

It baffled Sidney to see how one person could be so excited about every birthday that came along, but it only left him with one thought every time that crossed his mind:

"_I sure hope Tyler knows what's coming to him..."

* * *

_**I know exactly what happens at Benihana the night they go, but I think I'm going to save it for another story - it was too long as it is.**

**Hope you liked it!  
**


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